Dallas Stars Blog

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman: ‘The league is not, I repeat, not funding the club

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman spoke on a ton of topics today at the All-Star weekend in Raleigh, including the sale of the Stars. Here is what he had to say:

“Dallas, everybody has well chronicled the difficulties that ownership has had. The league is not, I repeat, not funding the club. There’s an orderly sales process underway with probably half a dozen interested parties. Tony Tavares has been installed to keep things operationally sound, helping the sales process and make sure that the franchise continues to conduct business in a first class way in the ordinary course.”

Here is the full transcript of Bettman’s press conference with the media Saturday:

COMMISSIONER BETTMAN: Welcome to All-Star Weekend, to all of you here at RBC Center and to those watching on the NHL Network. Raleigh has waited a long time for the opportunity to host the All-Star events. And it has done an excellent job of making the National Hockey League family feel welcome.

I want to particularly thank Pete Karmanos and Jim Rutherford and the Carolina Hurricanes organization, and the Hurricanes great fans for their hospitality, and if you are watching the Red Carpet, amazing turnout here today and in downtown Raleigh at the outdoor street fair and at the Fan Fest.

I also want to recognize and thank the local organizing committee. They have done a terrific job in terms of making everyone feel welcome for their hospitality, their graciousness, and perhaps, most important, and most of all, for being so well organized. I guess that’s what organizing committees do.

Last night’s All-Star Fantasy Draft powered by Cisco we think was a terrific start to the weekend. It was fun, which is what it was intended to do and be and be emblematic of what we expect of the weekend, and we look forward to the Honda Super Skills Competition tonight, and of course the All-Star game tomorrow presented by Discover.

There is a buzz. There is a sense of energy around this All-Star Weekend and all of the events. And I want to specifically acknowledge at this point the good work, great work of our Hockey Operations department, particularly Colin Campbell and Brendan Shanahan, because they reinvented and energized certain aspects of the weekend and the intention to make this fun for the players and fun for our fans.

I also would like to thank and welcome our sponsors. They are connecting with their customers who happen to be our fans with our brand and their brand and a variety of creative ways.

You’ll see tonight each of our skills events is supported by a different business partner. Overall sponsorship revenues are up 32 percent, and we are on pace for a sixth consecutive season of record revenues, which, once again, in an uncertain economic climate, makes a clear statement about the strength of our game and the strength of the business of our game and shows the importance of the quality of the game on the ice and perhaps as important the quality of our players and our fans.

We reach this All-Star break at an interesting point in the season. The playoff races are already close. The competitive balance is as strong, if not stronger, than it’s been in prior years.

We’ve seen surprising and breakthrough performances by both players and teams. And we’re excited about the second half of the season. We expect it to be extremely competitive.

We had a tremendous start to the month and to the year in Pittsburgh with the Winter Classic, and we are looking forward to the Heritage Classic in Calgary three weeks from tomorrow.

And when you think about it, it’s three major events in two countries in barely seven weeks. This type of schedule has placed incredible demands on our event staff, and I want to thank them for their extraordinarily well-done hard work, especially Don Renzulli who heads up our Special Events department.

Before I take questions, which I know you’re also anxious to ask, let me take a couple of seconds to talk about the Board of Governors meeting today. In no particular order of what we did at the board meeting, the board did receive a detailed report on the subject of concussions that our players have suffered this season.

The objective was to review what we’ve done and are doing, to assess a variety of factors and determine how best to continue, our ongoing effort to manage, reduce, and whenever possible find ways to prevent instances in which concussions occur.

Obviously this is an important matter, and we have treated it as such for years and we will continue to treat it as an important matter. In 1997 we were the first professional sports league to start a working group for the study of concussions. It included the Players’ Association, physicians, trainers.

We were the first sport to mandate neuropsychological baseline testing. We have also mandated changes to the rules. We have mandated changes to equipment. We have mandated changes to the playing environment. All designed to increase player safety.

By the way, the Concussion Working Group happened to meet yesterday as well in its regularly scheduled meeting. We were also the first professional sports league to implement diagnosis and return-to-play protocols.

We are, for better or for worse, and unfortunately, I suppose, because we have to deal with concussions at all, when it comes to concussion evaluation and management protocol, we have experience, and we will continue to be proactive in this area.

What I’m about to say is based on very preliminary data so you can’t hold me to it down the road with precision, because we have to make sure it bears out. But I do want to emphasize what appear to be preliminary trends. For the 2010-11 regular season concussions are up. Again, I want to emphasize it’s preliminary.

The increase in concussions appears to be in the area of accidental or inadvertent situations as most did not involve any contact whatsoever with the victim’s head by an opponent.

I’m not saying that no concussions came from hits to the head. But it appears that the increase is coming from somewhere else.

And so what do I mean by inadvertent or accidental – We’ve seen players suffer concussions this season when they’ve stumbled into the boards or other players without any contact at all. We’ve seen players suffer concussions when struck by pucks in the head.

We’ve seen players concussed when they collide with teammates, and when they were hit legally and without head contact after which their heads have struck either the ice or the boards or the glass.

The biggest increase in instances of concussion this season, and the biggest increase in man games lost is from these types of so-called accidental or inadvertent contact.

Let me try and say this in a slightly different way. So with regard to head hits, since the implementation of Rule 48 last March, that’s the blindside lateral head hit rule, we’ve seen a decrease in concussions and man games lost resulting from blindside hits to the head.

In addition, we have seen a decrease in concussions caused by hits involving the head that are deemed legal in our game. With respect to hits to the body, this year we have seen an increase in concussions from hits to the body that have resulted in the head having secondary contact with the glass, boards or ice.

With regard to fighting, the number of concussions and man games lost due to fighting has increased. And finally, with regard to accidental or inadvertent collisions, the number of concussions caused by accidental plays on the ice and inadvertent collisions with an opponent has more than doubled year to year and has resulted in a threefold increase in man games lost.

Again, this is preliminary. Some of it is judgmental. Some of it is definitional, but we think on a preliminary basis this is the way things are trending.

The general managers with this information, further analysis and more information that we’ll gather between now and their meetings in March, will obviously, as they did last year, spend time figuring out what this all means and what, if anything, needs to be done to address this issue.

As all hockey fans, I’m unhappy about the fact that we have players who are not at the All-Star game because of concussions. In fact, I don’t like the fact that any players don’t play or miss games because of concussions. But keep in mind our teams have collectively about 800 players. There’s 1230 regular-season games. We have over 50,000 hits and about 75,000 minutes of playing time.

Of course, the ideal number of concussions would be zero. And our objective is to come as close as possible to getting that result without changing the fundamental nature of our game. But we do want to look for ways to better protect heads and do everything possible to eliminate concussions.

As I said before, this is an important matter, and it’s something that we intend to stay on top of.

Let me touch on a couple of other topics, on the issue of franchises. In no particular order, Phoenix. The city of Glendale is working towards a sale of the bonds necessary to complete the transaction.

There was no deadline of December 31st. As of December 31st, we have had and do have the option of pursuing alternatives. We’re not doing that yet because it appears that everything is on track. And any reports to the contrary are absolutely baseless and without foundation.

From everything we’re hearing, from the entities handling the bond sale from the city of Glendale, from Mr. Hulsizer’s people, is things are on track and they’re hoping in the next couple of weeks or so things will be resolved and the franchise will close.

Dallas, everybody’s well chronicled the difficulties that ownership has had. The league is not – I repeat, not – funding the club. There’s an orderly sales process underway with probably half a dozen interested parties. Tony Tavares has been installed to keep things operationally sound, helping the sales process and make sure that the franchise continues to conduct business in a first class way in the ordinary course.

Buffalo, Terry Pegula, who has expressed, obviously, an interest in buying that franchise, was interviewed today by the Executive Committee, but this process and this transaction are not yet near being done. No votes were taken. This was just a preliminary step.

With respect to the NHLPA, I can tell you I am glad that there’s an executive director, and I look forward to building a relationship with Donald Fehr. We certainly will have lots to discuss. But collective bargaining is a year and a half away. We’ve got plenty of time on the current Collective Bargaining Agreement. Three major sports besides us go first.

If you feel compelled to write about collective bargaining, go do it on another sport, please. We’ve got plenty of time until it’s us. And I think as Don may have said publicly, he’s got a long curve – perhaps as long as a year – to make sure that he’s on top of everything he needs to be on top of before we get into serious discussions that would even approach the collective bargaining level.

So from that standpoint, we spent time together. We’ll continue to spend time together and the relationship will continue to develop.

With respect to U.S. national television negotiations, the Comcast-NBC Universal Merger was approved by the Justice Department, the FCC, and the United States. I believe they closed the transaction last night at midnight and we will very shortly be in discussions and negotiations with our current partners, which are NBC and VERSUS, and they’re now in the same place. So it will make things a little bit easier, hopefully.

As it relates to our events, the Winter Classic for next year, the Heritage Classic after the one in Calgary on February 20th and the Premier games, we do not have finalized plans yet.

We haven’t had really in-depth conversations on either the Winter Classic or Heritage Classic, and we’re still in the formulation stage in the Premiere games, so there’s nothing for me to announce in that regard.

And to the extent people are suggesting particular locations or match-ups or the like, you’re doing it, having made judgments that we haven’t made yet.

Here today as I take your questions, and they’re available as well, are Bill Daly, our Deputy Commissioner; Colin Campbell, Senior Executive Vice President of Hockey Operations; John Collins, our Chief Operating Officer; Brendan Shanahan; and a cast of thousands.

Q. Gary, what’s your personal viewpoint and the league viewpoint on reporters being banned by the New York Islanders or any other club?

COMMISSIONER BETTMAN: I don’t know of any reporters that have been banned. I know of a blogger with a situation that makes this a more complicated and unique situation.

And when you have someone who’s had a relationship with the players and in the room and then there’s a separation of that relationship, it’s a little more complicated than the ordinary course.

My general view is we want the media to have complete access, but blanket rules don’t always work in unique situations.

Q. How many concussions have there been this season, and how much are they on the uptick?

COMMISSIONER BETTMAN: I don’t think I’m at liberty right now to disclose exact numbers. I think the Concussion Working Group’s information is supposed to be kept confidential until there’s agreement by all parties that it should be disclosed. But it is up.

And that’s something at the appropriate time we’ll disclose, because the numbers, the evaluation and the diagnosis is still in the preliminary stage as I indicated.

Q. The situation with Evgeni Nabokov refusing to report to the team, can the league intervene in the situation and is there a possibility that the Islanders could be awarded his services for next year as well the same was done with Yashin a while ago?

COMMISSIONER BETTMAN: I don’t think it’s typically for the league to get involved between a club and a player when a player is refusing to render the services called for under his standard player contract. That now is an issue between the player and the team.

The player signed his contract knowing that he had to clear the waiver procedure. Those are the rules. Everybody knew them going in. And I don’t want to make this any more complicated or any worse, but the Yashin situation obviously will be a precedent when a player, any player, isn’t rendering the services called for under his contract.

I assume the team will take the position that the contract tolls.

Q. In the analysis of the accidental inadvertent hits, is there an explanation for the increase?

COMMISSIONER BETTMAN: Anything at this point would be speculation. We have people who are experts who review the videos. I think they’ve reviewed probably 85 percent of the concussions that have been taking place. Our hockey operations people do the same thing. We don’t have any answers yet. It’s speculation. It could be a full moon, as ridiculous as that. I don’t think it’s that – I’m not making light of it.

It could be the speed of the game. It could be a variety of things in case of the fighting, concussions being up. It may be mismatches. These are all things we’re looking at.

The point I wanted to convey is it’s easy to say the league needs to do X, Y and Z on concussions. It’s not that simple. Changing a rule which doesn’t address what’s actually causing the concussions may not be the right thing to do. Changing equipment may not necessarily be the right thing to do.

We spend a lot of effort on this subject. We know it’s important. But we need to be very professional, smart, thorough, in dealing with it. It’s not susceptible to a snap judgment.

Having said that, that’s the process we used last year when we enacted Rule 48. That appears to be working.

It was after doing all the homework, having been very analytical, using the expertise of the general managers, most of whom were former players, we were able to craft a rule that made sense, was enforceable, and those types of concussions being caused from blindsides are actually down.

We need to be that strategic and that professional about it going forward.

Q. Taking it a step further, if there’s incidental indications that the Rule 48 may have dropped some concussions, would going an extra step and banning all hits to the head as with something the IHF does, would that be something – did you get a sense from the Board of Governors meeting that there’s a push to do that, or would that be something that NHL would look to do?

COMMISSIONER BETTMAN: A couple of things in that. We briefed the Board of Governors. The discussion and depth will come from the general managers who focus on these rules.

But, again, if concussions from legal hits are down and concussions from blindside hits are down, preliminary trend, then you have to question why a rule which deals with hits to the head would make sense, if that’s not what’s causing the concussions. I’m not saying it’s not, but the data as we’re reviewing it and interpreting it, and there’s some element of interpretation here, is such that it’s not a simple question to answer and simply say enact this rule.

Because one of the things that’s important is that we want to keep the fundamental aspects of our physical game but at the same time protect the players.

Q. If I could ask two quick lawsuit-related questions. One, the Atlanta Thrashers ownership group filed suit against their own lawyers last week in part claiming that bad contract had been – made it impossible for them to sell their team, even though publicly they had repeated many times that they weren’t trying to sell their team. I wonder what your feelings are about that specifically and where the Thrashers ownership situation is at. And, second one, the lawsuit filed in California on behalf of minor league player Jason Bailey alleging that the Ducks were aware of anti-Semitic behavior on the part of coaches and wonder what the league’s take and how you proceed given that suit.

COMMISSIONER BETTMAN: In both instances, my legal training jumps to the fore, and it’s really not a good idea for anybody, particularly in my position, to be commenting on pending litigation.

With respect to the Atlanta situation, I don’t know the specifics of why they’re alleging what they’re alleging and what they believe the law firm did or didn’t do. The fact of the matter is the ownership situation is a little clearer than it was because they settled with the owner that they were previously in litigation with. And so there seems to be lots of litigation that goes on with respect to that franchise.

And my guess is this is another step in the journey for ownership trying to sort things out. If they think that they’ve been aggrieved by the lawyers representing them, then they’ll prosecute that case and collect whatever damages they’re entitled to, if a court finds in their favor.

Commenting on what they were saying publicly or what they did, I’ll leave that for the lawyers and the courts to resolve.

The case involving the Ducks and anti-Semitism, I find it hard to believe of all of our franchises in particular why that one would be accused of being anti-Semitic. My guess is, in particular, the Samuelis, who own the Ducks, had no idea.

I don’t know the specifics, and in any lawsuit a plaintiff can allege anything he wants. The issue is whether or not he can prove it whether or not it’s true.

Q. Just so we can maybe find some clarity for the tortured souls in Winnipeg as the Phoenix story continues, I know you addressed it. What is sort of the drop-dead date if this thing doesn’t close?

COMMISSIONER BETTMAN: I know it would satisfy everybody’s sense of finality to announce a drop-dead date. As long as the process is holding together in a time frame that we can deal with, schedule and the like, we’re going to hang in there.

If it becomes clear that the train is off the rails or that the train isn’t getting to the station anytime soon, then we’ll have to reevaluate our position. But we’re not going to by a matter of a day or two just simply make an artificial date.

We’ll hang in there as long as it makes sense and as long as we can. But time is getting short. Make no mistake about that. This is not something that is of infinite duration. I have tried to be as careful as I could be not to raise expectations in Winnipeg.

Everybody knows my view on that. If we have to move a club, it would be good to go back to a place that we were once in that has a different situation, vis-a-vis building and ownership and the like.

But, you know, it’s one of the reasons we get concerned. We think it’s unfair when baseless stories come out suggesting things that aren’t true to get people in Winnipeg all excited.

If there’s something to announce, I promise we’ll announce it.

Q. You were talking about Winnipeg. People in Quebec City –

COMMISSIONER BETTMAN: I knew you were going to ask.

Q. Should I ask the question first?

COMMISSIONER BETTMAN: Go right ahead.

Q. People in Quebec City are working hard to raise money and find money which will allow to build a new building. They are almost there. That’s what some people say. So should people in Quebec City – should get excited about an NHL team?

COMMISSIONER BETTMAN: I don’t want anybody getting excited. The fact of the matter is over the last couple of years there have been lots of stories suggesting a building in Quebec City is a done deal, that the money’s been raised.

Nobody has told me that, and in the conversations that I’ve had with a variety of people, including the Mayor and the Premier, we have said we’re not planning on expanding. We’re not planning on relocation. So we cannot promise you a franchise.

If there’s a new building, separate and independent from us, for whatever reason and the opportunity presents itself with respect to a franchise, it’s no different than what I said about Winnipeg. But we don’t want people building a building on our account, expecting that there’s going to be a franchise, because we’re not in the position to promise one right now.

Q. Can you elaborate a little bit on the Buffalo situation? There’s reports that a purchase agreement could be completed this week. And just tell me what your general impressions are of Terry Pegula.

COMMISSIONER BETTMAN: I know Terry Pegula. I’ve spent a fair amount of time with him. I like him. I believe he’s somebody who has the wherewithal to own a franchise. He’s obviously been a hockey fan for a long time. I think he was a Sabres season ticket holder for 18 years. He’s made a substantial contribution in furtherance of collegiate ice hockey in Penn State.

And the status of the transaction, I’m not going to speculate as to whether or not this is the week or there’s ever going to be a week that would be for Mr. Pegula and the Sabres and current ownership to announce, if and when they’re ready.

Q. You’ve touched on a number of ownership issues. What’s your perspective on the process going on in St. Louis currently? And are you confident it will be resolved with Dave Checketts still in charge?

COMMISSIONER BETTMAN: I think Dave Checketts and his ownership group has done a very good job of bringing the franchise back, and I know they’re doing some refinancing, not in these crazy economic times unusual, and even in uncrazy economic times not unusual, to do some restructuring.

Q. Question about the next season, KHL president Medvedev mentioned that he would like NHL teams to start season in Russia, and he went as far as saying that Washington Capitals and Rangers would be one of those two teams that would make sense to play there, including as far as one of the Siberian cities. What would you say?

COMMISSIONER BETTMAN: I’d say it’s nice that Mr. Medvedev is that interested in NHL hockey, and if there’s a point in time where we decide we have the appropriate arrangements to play games in Russia, then we’ll make an announcement. But we’re not anywhere close to doing that.

Q. Siberia, at least…

COMMISSIONER BETTMAN: I hadn’t heard the Siberian point. That one is new. It’s a lot of travel, isn’t it. Also very cold.

Q. Jagr is playing there right now and they’re obviously interested in seeing the Rangers come in. I know it’s a long way.

COMMISSIONER BETTMAN: It makes for a good story. It makes for nice intrigue. Doesn’t necessarily make for reality. That’s not something that is a done deal or close to being done or ready to be announced.

Q. Just a follow-up on the possibility of a Premier game in Russia, possibility, not a done deal, still in conversation. The bombing in Moscow, suicide bombing, does that make you think of other aspects of the venture?

COMMISSIONER BETTMAN: Worldwide terrorism is something that’s on our mind on a regular basis. Building security even in North America is extremely important to us, safety of our players and our fans is of paramount importance, and in making any decision as to where we play games, particularly outside of North America. It’s something we have to take into account. It’s obviously something that people have been speculating needs to be taken into account with respect to the Sochi games for the Olympics.

Q. Lawsuits aside, Atlanta Thrashers ownership is looking for another investor. It would be fair to say that the current situation has produced some drama. How do you feel about yet another investor coming into that situation?

COMMISSIONER BETTMAN: Well, I think the best way to answer that is to state the obvious. The last few years have been taxing on ownership from a financial standpoint with respect to both the basketball team and the hockey team and the arena. And if people are looking to restructure the economics and bring in more capital, it might not be crazy for them to be seeking to add to the wherewithal to deal with those issues.

On that note, I hope you’re all enjoying the weekend. And thank you for being here with us.